A Challenger Approaches
by C War
Summary: Daisy has been left out of the Brawl, and boy is she steamed! But Toadette has a plan to get both of them into the event.
1. Tantrums and Teamwork

Daisy was absolutely furious. "WHY!?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, shaking the walls of her Sarasaland castle.

"Why what?" her attendant Toadunk asked, peeking his head around the corner.

Daisy ran over and picked him up. "Why didn't I get invited!?!"

"I-invited to what?"

She began to shake him back and forth, "To the inter-dimensional tournaments, of course! To the BRAWL!!" Still furious, she threw Toadunk to the ground. Fortunately, Toads are pretty durable, and Toadunk was even more durable than most, which was why he'd been asked by the others to come investigate. "I mean, yeah, Mario and Luigi are the big heroes. And Peach…well, if she's invited, I should get to go too! I'm tougher than her, and definitely a better fighter!" She struck an aggressive pose, with her foot on Toadunk's head. "Then she had to go and steal my dress for one of her 'alternate outfits, didn't she? But that's not the worst of it!! Wario's now a featured combatant, and even Waluigi got to go be an 'Assist Trophy'! But me? I get to model for iAi/ trophy in my soccer gear, and a few stickers, and that's it!" Kicking his head like a soccer ball, she sent Toadunk flying across the room.

Seeing him bounce off of the wall brought her back to her senses. "Oh, crap! Sorry, Toadunk!"

"It'sssfine, Prinssessss…" he said dizzily. Sometimes, Daisy wondered if the guy was a masochist, with how often he was around when she was angry. Fortunately that wasn't too often, but being left out was easily the main source of her fits.

"Daisy, I have an idea!" Daisy turned to see Toadette enter the room.

"Oh, yeah, you didn't get to go either, huh?" Daisy said, mellowing out further.

"I got about the same exposure as you, yeah," she replied. "At least it makes a bit more sense with me: I haven't been a major player as long."

"That's not making me feel better..."

"I'm not done," Toadette said forcefully. "Anyways, about my plan: we should team up, like Toad and Peach."

Daisy just stared for a second. "Oh! I get it!" she suddenly exclaimed. "But, how? They've already filled the roster."

"Leave that to me," Toadette reassured her. "I've got a plan." She pulled on Daisy's arm to get her to crouch, then began whispering in her ear.

"Awesome!" Daisy shouted once Toadette had finished explaining. "But first…"

"First what?" Toadette wondered.

"First we need to work out moves. I don't want to look just like a Peach clone out there. Ooh, speaking of which…" she held her skirt up slightly, looking at it. "If I'm not gonna be a Peach clone, I'm not wearing this. C'mon, I need to decide what to wear…" She led the way to her large closet. Both knew from seeing it, though, that Peach's was at least four times as big. Daisy's was also slightly less monochrome, having outfits ranging from yellow to dark orange. "Alright, I'm thinking one of my sports outfits…" She started along the wall where she kept all of them. Her soccer uniform she passed on immediately. She'd used that for the trophy already. "Okay, we've got baseball, tennis, my bike outfit from karts…"

"Not that one," Toadette advised. "It is full length, but form fitting. Samus already has that covered."

"Ooh, you're right," Daisy nodded. "And Peach and Zelda both cover the long dresses…okay, let's go with this one." She held up her tennis outfit, which was almost the same as her baseball and golf outfits, orange shorts and a lighter orange tank top. But this one also had the skates she loved using on the trophy stand. They could be useful later. She considered for a moment ditching her crown, but as usual decided to keep it on. "Alright, now to the training yard."

"Why?" Toadette asked.

Daisy just stared at her for a moment. "I need to work out moves to use. So far, I've got one easy. If you can do the reflection thing that Toad does for Peach."

"Oh, yeah, good point. One down, like a dozen to go."

"I'm afraid I'll have to copy Peach on a few of them," Daisy continued. "Or someone, at least. There's only so many ways to kick and punch." She figured that she'd adapt a couple of Peach's unique moves, too.

They talked about techniques as Daisy changed and then went down to the training yard. It was fairly large, and she used it to practice sports and such, and her guards used it for training. She wondered if that was part of why she got captured less than Peach, if only to make herself feel better about it. Her guards were very skilled, though, and could fend off Bowser's horde any day. His special forces, maybe not. Whereas Peach hardly seemed to have any guards, and Daisy had serious doubts about their skills.

When they got there, the guards were training. Some were sparring, others running or using the weights at one end of the field. "Wow," Toadette said. "You ought to have a couple of these guys go whip Peach's guards into shape. Then maybe she wouldn't be captured as often. Though when Bowser steals the whole castle…"

"I'm convinced that my cousin secretly enjoys being kidnapped," Daisy said, annoyed enough to not want to use Peach's name. "Alright men!" she barked, "today, you have a new assignment: help me get into shape!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the guards replied.

"I'll be ready for Brawl in no time," Daisy said happily as she began her 'workout'.


	2. Bust a Move!

It didn't take too long to work out a lot of her moves. Regular attacks came naturally, a kick or a punch, whatever the situation seemed to merit. Her regular Special was simple enough, since that was what Toadette did. She'd also discovered an Up Special attack that she could do. It was, alas, similar to Peach's, but it was definitely hers. Daisy could jump higher than Peach, but couldn't hover as well. Her Flower Drift move was better than Peach's equivalent, though. For one, it probably hurt more, and she could float longer than Peach could with her parasol. She loved her ability to produce flowers out of nowhere. The one downside to the move was that the flower tended to twirl as she floated. She was hoping that her uppercut-release, producing it at a low angle and then thrusting it up as it bloomed, would pack as much of a punch in the Brawl as here in the training yard.

Her other two Special moves took her a bit longer to think of. For her Down Special, she came up with the Daisy Wave, a burst of flowers shooting out all around her, knocking back her opponents. She used her Flower Dash, her defensive Power move when she played tennis, as a Side Special attack, rocketing herself into someone. It seemed obvious once she thought to use it, it just took a while to think of it.

For her side Smash attack, she decided to mimic Peach's move of pulling out her random sports stuff to whack someone with. Instead of a frying pan, though, she pulled out her baseball bat. She decided to do a flip-kick for her up Smash, and a sweep kick for her down Smash.

She pulled her skates out for her Final Smash, dashing forward to grab an enemy, then spinning and throwing them off the screen. And she left a path of flowers in her path that would sap an opponent's health for the few seconds they were around, and heal her.

"Yeah, this works," Daisy said, exhausted, at the end of the training. She was breathing hard, but her guards were all but passed out from the experience. Toadette was probably in the best shape, but even she was feeling a bit of strain. And more than a couple bruises from mis-timing her counterattack.

"Ah, wow, that was tough…" she said, rubbing her arm where she'd most recently taken a blow.

"Feel like backing out?" Daisy chided.

"Nah, I'm good," Toadette replied. "So, when do you want to go?"

"I would say tonight, but I think tomorrow's our best bet," Daisy decided after considering for a moment. "We should be well rested before crashing the party, eh?" Suddenly, her stomach rumbled loudly. "Ehe, we should eat before then, too. C'mon, you guys." Helping the guard Toads up, they all headed inside for dinner. Daisy had the entire group join her for a feast, as a thank you for helping her prepare.

"Ah! Best reward I've gotten for taking a beating yet!" shouted Toadunk, who had joined in the training as well.

"Oh, be quiet, mister made-of-rubber," Toadette countered, slapping him on the back. The guards chuckled, and Daisy tried to hide a smirk.

"A toast!" Daisy shouted suddenly. "To crashing the Brawl!"

"To crashing the Brawl!" the others echoed. Soon after, everyone parted for bed, to rest and to heal from the day's activities, and to prepare for tomorrow.


	3. In Transit

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Daisy whispered to Toadette.

"Yes, I'm very sure", Toadette replied. "Peach takes so much stuff when she goes that one extra chest, even one as large as this one, shouldn't cause a fuss. Even she can't keep track of them all." She paused for a minute, and even in the dark of the chest, she could've sworn she saw Toadette smile and blush. "Plus, I greased the wheels with a couple of the toads responsible for this. They'll let us know when the coast is clear, too."

"Okay, cool," Daisy said, perhaps a bit too loudly. She flinched at the sound of her own voice, hoping that no one outside had heard. They were able to hear some voices outside, and Daisy hoped that sound only travelled that well one-way through the box's walls.

"Hey, did you hear somethin'?" one Toad asked.

"Nah, you're imagining things," another replied.

"Wouldn't be the first time," a third chimed in.

"Very funny," the first retorted. "This should be the last load, yeah?"

"Yeah, just a few more cases," the second replied from what sounded like right next to their box.

"Let's get this big one on first," the third added from the other end of the box. A moment later the two stowaways felt themselves being lifted up and carried onto the transport.

"Whoa, that one looks kind of heavy," the first commented. "Need some help?"

"Nah, we've got it," the second toad, the one leading the box, replied. "Hey, let's put it right over here." They felt the weight shift as he let go with one hand for a second, to point to where he meant, they assumed. Fortunately the downhill side was where Toadette was, as her head didn't make as much of a thump against the box as Daisy's would have.

"Careful!" their other carrier shouted. "This is marked fragile for a reason, man."

"Right, right! Sorry," number two said after grabbing hold again. A moment later, they were set down, and heard a gentle tap on the lid, perhaps an indication that he meant the sorry for them, too, or perhaps just as normal course of procedure.

"Hey, I don't have that one on my list, you two," the first Toad called, sounding far away. Daisy cringed. The jig was up, they were going to get caught! Toadette reached up and put a hand on her knee, and shushed her before she made any noise.

"Oh? Guess you didn't get the last update," the third Toad called. "It's new this trip."

"Really," the first said skeptically.

The second made a noise of exasperation before responding. "Yes, really. Here, we'll show you."

It was quiet for a minute, the other two obviously retrieving their lists to compare. Suddenly, they heard a tapping on the lid. "What's in this, anyways?" It was the first Toad, standing right in front of their hiding spot. "Huh? Hey, it's locked!"

"It's a special order from the Princess," the second Toad replied as he approached. "She's probably got the key to it, too."

"Anyways, here's our lists," the third said. "See? Right there."

"Oh, okay, yeah," the first said, inspecting the pages. "Well. Guess I need to check in and see if I can get this new list." A bell rang, heard dimly in the box. "Later. We need to finish loading pronto."

"Right!" the other two replied. The next few minutes were filled with the sounds of the other boxes being moved aboard. They felt boxes set alongside theirs, though not on top.

A few minutes later, they heard a phone ring. "Last one just got on," the second one answered. They then heard him hang up, and the bell from before rang again, twice. They then felt a jerk as the transport started to move.

"Aaagh, my feet are falling asleep," Daisy whined quietly.

"Hey, I never said it'd be comfortable," Toadette responded. They both froze as they heard scratching at the front of the box, a key probing a lock. The lock popped open, and a moment later light filled the box. Daisy cringed as she was blinded, again thinking they'd been caught. "About time!" Toadette commented, blinking at the change in illumination. The freight car wasn't well lit, but it was brighter than in the box.

"Sorry, inspector started his rounds back here." Daisy recognized the voice of the second Toad from before.

"Means we shouldn't need to worry about him coming back, though," the other conspirator added. "Hey, Boad, let's get the other supplies."

"Right, Tell," Boad replied. With her sight returning, she was able to see that Boad was a blue Toad, and Tell was yellow. Daisy and Toadette stood slowly, stretching their legs, and climbed out of the box. Boad came over with some food and a canteen. "It's just water," he said when he handed it to them.

"Which is probably best at a time like this," Daisy replied before taking a swig. She hadn't realized how thirsty she'd been until just then, and only Toadette pulling it from her hands prevented her from possibly draining the whole thing. She realized that between the stress and the temperature in the box, she'd been sweating quite a bit, and didn't begrudge Toadette drinking the rest.

"Good thing we've got more," Tell commented when they gave him the empty canteen. "Plus, it's not a long trip. Though it could be a long wait before you'd be clear to get back out once we got there." Tell shrugged, then handed Daisy a plate.

The food was simple, the kind of food that she could never convince the palace staff to make. She savored the chance to eat these things that they considered 'too crude for a royal palate'. Meat, mashed potatoes, and steamed mushroom were foods that she truly enjoyed, and for a moment she was able to forget she was a princess. "Mmmm, this is delicious!" she exclaimed after cutting into the red meat. That was another thing the palace chefs wouldn't do, leave the meat rare when they cooked. Medium was the reddest she could get out of them. This was hardly seared at all, the rarest steak she'd ever had. "Who made this, anyways?"

"You really like it, Princess?" Tell asked. "Oh, my lessons are paying off!"

"You made this?" Toadette asked, amazed. "This is great!"

"Thank you both," Tell replied, bowing in gratitude. "I've always wanted to be a chef, and praise like this shows me that I'm finally getting there."

Daisy thought for a moment. "You don't want to work freight anymore?"

"Neither of us does," Boad answered. "Backbreaking labor like this, I'm only here to get some money until I can get a better job."

"It pays for training, food, and lodgings," Tell added, "if I budget it right."

"What would you rather do, Boad?" Toadette asked.

"Let's just say that he didn't work out his budget by himself," he replied.

Daisy tried to hide a smile. "You want to work with finances?"

"I like numbers," he shrugged. "I've run through the freight company's finances, and found ways to save them several thousand dollars a year, but since I'm a 'freight boy', they don't even listen to me."

"Well," Daisy smiled, "how would you two like to come work at the Sarasaland Palace?"

Both Toad's jaws dropped. "Y-you'd really want me to work in the palace?" Tell stammered. "You liked it that much?"

"I loved it!" Daisy exclaimed, unceremoniously wiping some of the juices from her face with her hand. "The cooks at the palace never make anything like this for me. They say that rare meat is dangerous, and that a dish like this is too 'common' for a princess. Ha! Half of the super-fancy stuff they concoct doesn't even taste that good, and I hardly ever get anything I'd call outstanding from them." She then turned to Boad, "and my financial department needs some help. They're getting old, and most ought to retire, and probably would have if they had replacements. Which have been oddly hard to find."

Boad's face was bright red. "I-I've got some friends that could help, too. A bunch of us that are real math heads but are stuck in dead end jobs like this."

"Great!" Daisy shouted. "Once this whole thing is over, I'll make arrangements for you two, and your friends if they want, to move out to Sarasaland. Here." She handed each of them a special flower that appeared in her hands. "These flowers harden over time, but don't lose their color, or break easily, so I use them to make ID passes. Keep a hold on those, so that it's easier for me to remember you two later. I hope to be able to travel back normally."

Suddenly the bell rang again, and they felt the transport start slowing down. "Uh-oh, time to reset," Tell said. "Although…"

"What are you thinking?" Toadette asked, having already jumped back into their box.

"It may be easier for you two to get out of here from the loading dock than from the rooms where these go," he replied.

Boad suddenly smacked his head with his palm. "Especially when they have these!" He rushed over to the desk attached to the corner of the car, reached into the drawer, and pulled out two slips of paper. "These will make things a lot easier," he said as he latched the drawer shut. He then handed them the papers.

Toadette's face brightened. "These are VIP spectator passes!"

"Why didn't we just get these to begin with?" Daisy asked.

"Because the normal Spectator areas are well cut off from the arenas, behind energy barriers," Toadette replied. "I looked into that option, but you and I were both specifically barred from getting VIP passes like these, because of exactly what we're planning to do."

"Ah, that's right!" Daisy shouted, remembering her failed attempt to get one before. She was able to get a 'first class' pass, which had the best seating and were available to a lot of the Trophy models. But it didn't have backstage access like this.

"We get these normally because we'd be hauling around Peach's stuff," Tell explained. "But we're on return duty today, so we can't use 'em."

"Changed kinda last minute, so we already had the passes," Boad smirked. "But don't rely too heavily on those."

The transport lurched to a stop, and the car door opened. "Ok, we need to act fast," Tell said after looking outside. "Other workers will be getting out soon."

"Save your breath," Boud said as he tapped him on the shoulder. "They already bailed."

"Oh," Tell shrugged. "Good for them. Good luck, Princess." From bushes farther away than they would've thought possible, they saw two hands stick out and wave before vanishing again. They'd made it into the dimensional space where the Brawl was held. Now they just needed to find the right time to crash the party.


End file.
